Wout Poels continued his love affair with Spain as the Sky rider rode to stage 2 victory and into the Ruta del Sol lead. The win is Poels' sixth career victory on Spanish soil and sets up his bid for overall victory.

Sky teammate Chris Froome was seventh at the end of the challenging stage to La Guardia de Jaén and remains in contention for the win via the final day time trial.

On the stage, Poels took his win two seconds ahead of Luis Leon Sanchez (Astana) and Tim Wellens (Lotto Soudal). In the general classification, the Dutchman also leads the duo by the same margin